The present invention relates to an apparatus for playing games, especially but not exclusively, games relating to time.
According to the present invention, in one aspect, there is provided an apparatus for playing games comprising at least one die and a planar object, with markings thereon, characterised in that the die has twelve facets, each facet having markings to indicate numerals and/or letters of the alphabet and/or other characters, and the planar object comprises at least twelve parts capable of being assembled into a composite planar sheet, each part having makings to indicate numerals and/or letters and/or characters corresponding to the facets on the die.
According to the present invention in another aspect there is provided apparatus for playing games relating to time, comprising two dice and a clock face, each die having twelve facets uniformly distributed around its center point, one of the dice having its facets marked to indicate twelve numbers at intervals of one unit, the other die having its facets marked to indicate twelve numbers at intervals of five units, the clock face being marked from 1 to 12 to indicate hours and also from 1 to 60, at least at intervals of 5 per facet to indicate minutes.
The first die represents an "hour die" and its facets may be marked 0 to 11 or 1 to 12. The second die represents a "minute die" and its facets may be marked 0 to 55, or 5 to 60 at intervals of 5.
The die may be formed in a dodecahedron. They may have pentagonal facets with straight edges between-adjacent facets, or they may have facets of other shapes, for example, circular, with curved transitions between adjacent facets.
The clock face may be made up of pieces which fit together. It may include twelve sector pieces, each marked to indicate an hour 1 to 12. The clock face may include a central piece. The sector pieces may include interlocking portions along their adjacent radial edges, for example, tongue and groove. The sector pieces may also include means for interlocking with the central piece. The central piece may be circular.
The clock may include an hour hand and a minute hand for indicating the time. The hands may be attached to the central circular piece.
Alternatively the clock may be formed by a tray with clock pieces that fit into the tray. The tray may have an outer wall and an inner wall and the clock face pieces fit into the space between the inner and outer walls.
The apparatus may also include sets of numbered cards. Each set may be distinct from the others, for example by being coloured a different colour. In one embodiment there are six sets coloured, for example, red, green, blue, yellow, brown and black. The cards may be numbered in a binary progression. There may be 10 cards in each set numbered 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512. These cards are used to keep the score of each player. Any number from 1 to 1023 may be formed by combinations of these cards.
In an alternative embodiment there are twelve `hour` cards and twelve `minute` cards, each card being marked with a number corresponding to a number on a facet of one of the dice. The `hour` and `minute` cards may also be marked with symbols for mathematical functions, such as "+", "-", ".times." and ".div.".
The apparatus may also include sets of chips identified in the same manner as the cards. For example there may be six sets of five chips, the sets being coloured red, green, blue, yellow, brown and black.
Alternatively or in addition, the apparatus may be provided with pegs which fit into holes in the clock face.
A cup may be provided as a shaker for the dice.
Although in some games the hour die is used to represent hours, it could be used in other games to indicate months of the year, ie. January=1, February=2, etc.
The `minute` die can likewise be used to represent seconds instead of hours.
Although in the arrangement described above the apparatus is marked with numerals for playing games relating to time, the die and clock and the scoring cards may be marked additionally or alternatively with letters of the alphabet or other characters, for playing other games.
The apparatus of the present invention can be used for playing many different games, examples of which will be described below.